With a team deeply-rooted in telecommunications (our CEO Craig Walker founded both Google Voice and Yahoo! Voice), we launched Switch Communications to get back to what we love doing: building scalable voice products for the the modern worker.

Starting today, we’re moving our UberConference content over to the Switch Communications blog. Don’t worry, UberConference isn’t going anywhere, we just think it makes sense to talk about Switch and UberConference together as two amazing unified communications products that help us better connect when and where we work best.

We look forward to sharing more awesome updates— from customer stories, product news, and helpful tips on how to make the most of Switch and UberConference.

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2015/03/the-uberconference-blog-is-moving/feed/0We Want to Hear from You!http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/12/feature-request-uberconference-we-want-to-hear-from-you/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/12/feature-request-uberconference-we-want-to-hear-from-you/#respondWed, 03 Dec 2014 17:56:31 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=925Let us know how we can make UberConference a better product for you and your team. In addition to providing great support, we’re now offering a way for you to directly impact the future of UberConference. Just go to our Zendesk portal and select Feature Requests. From there, please give us a detailed brief of... Read more »

Let us know how we can make UberConference a better product for you and your team.

In addition to providing great support, we’re now offering a way for you to directly impact the future of UberConference. Just go to our Zendesk portal and select Feature Requests. From there, please give us a detailed brief of what you’d like to see next. We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop.

We’re excited to see what ideas you have and how we can continue to innovate for your team.

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/12/feature-request-uberconference-we-want-to-hear-from-you/feed/0It’s WebRTC Week! Let’s talk about why the Opus Codec is awesome.http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/11/webrtc-opus-codec/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/11/webrtc-opus-codec/#respondWed, 19 Nov 2014 22:54:41 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=921We’re huge fans of WebRTC at Switch Communications–it’s used in both of our products. One reason we love it (among many) is for the high-quality audio it provides for our customers. Using the Opus codec to transmit sound, and in our case — voice, over the Internet, WebRTC gives both Switch.co and UberConference crystal clear... Read more »

We’re huge fans of WebRTC at Switch Communications–it’s used in both of our products. One reason we love it (among many) is for the high-quality audio it provides for our customers. Using the Opus codec to transmit sound, and in our case — voice, over the Internet, WebRTC gives both Switch.co and UberConference crystal clear audio with very little delay.

In the spirit of the WebRTC Conference happening in San Jose this week, today’s post will cover what the Opus codec actually is and why we’re excited to be able to use it in our web communication products.

What is the Opus codec?

A codec is what translates sounds into digital data and carries it across the network to make voice over IP work. The Opus codec, in particular, is a totally open, free, and versatile audio codec, designed for speech and music transmission over the Internet. Compared to other codecs out there, Opus has the ability to adapt to available bandwidth for highest possible quality audio with low delay. Developers can use it under liberal, royalty-free licenses, making it accessible at little to no cost and easy to implement into other internet applications.

What Opus does for Switch.co and UberConference

When building Switch.co and UberConference, our priority was to improve the current state of business phone calls and create the best possible experience for our users. Part of this meant implementing WebRTC into our products for rich sound and high-quality calls through the browser. Opus gives us the opportunity to communicate over the Internet in real-time with superior quality, regardless of the type of network link our customers are using. We no longer need to know whether the customer’s network will support wideband audio or only narrow band. The Opus codec will determine the optimal bandwidth and fidelity settings based on the network path and continually adjust in real time. This flexibility makes it easy for us to still have high-quality business calls away from our desk and on our personal devices.
Going to the WebRTC Conference and Expo this week? Check out our CEO Craig Walker’s keynote on how WebRTC opens doors for new capabilities and offers on Thursday at 10am.

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/11/webrtc-opus-codec/feed/0UberConference now in Sprint Businesshttp://blog.uberconference.com/2014/11/sprint-google-apps-for-work-uberconference/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/11/sprint-google-apps-for-work-uberconference/#respondTue, 18 Nov 2014 07:00:50 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=911UberConference is proud to be offered as a part of Sprint’s Google Apps for Work package. Now, Sprint business customers can optimize their Google Apps experience with robust conferencing features offered by UberConference. This builds on Sprint’s mobile-centric solution of Google Apps for Work, which is part of the as-a-service portfolio, OfficeFuelTM from Sprint Business.

UberConference is proud to be offered as a part of Sprint’s Google Apps for Work package. Now, Sprint business customers can optimize their Google Apps experience with robust conferencing features offered by UberConference. This builds on Sprint’s mobile-centric solution of Google Apps for Work, which is part of the as-a-service portfolio, OfficeFuelTM from Sprint Business.

“Sprint is committed to building a comprehensive mobile-centric Google Apps for Work offer and adding UberConference to our portfolio of value-added services helps us achieve that goal,” said Mike Fitz, vice president of business solution commercialization, Sprint Business. “Businesses will benefit from our combination of aggressive wireless pricing plans and robust cloud-based collaboration tools that help businesses remove obstacles for their employees and encourage them to work better together.”

Sprint offers a robust package in their Google Apps for Work suite. In addition to the great conferencing features offered by UberConference, Sprint for Business users get Carefree Cloud to help companies roll out these new products seamlessly within their company. Sprint for Business customers get 24/7 admins and end user support for both Google Apps for Work and UberConference.

In addition to their strong mobile assistance program, Sprint includes single sign-on and domain services. We look forward to hearing how the tools offered by UberConference and Sprint help make your meetings more productive.

We’ve heard a lot of requests from developers who are interested in integrating with UberConference, and we’re excited to announce that the UberConference API is finally available in a closed beta!

There are so many awesome productivity tools out there, and integrating them with quick and simple UberConference conference calls can make our workdays that much more efficient. We’re officially beginning to accept API integration requests, starting with our first integration with Kato.im.

Kato.im is a powerful, free chat and messaging app designed for business. Kato allows users to chat, share files and communicate across internal and external teams. While Kato.im provides fast team communication, sometimes conversations need to be taken from a chat room to a conference call.

To solve this, Kato.im built UberConference into the product so users can instantly connect to a conference call, share their screen, or collaborate on files directly from their chat room. With this integration, two awesome products have come together for an integrated team communication experience.

Here’s how it works:

After starting the conference, a message similar to this one will appear in the room:

Clicking on the link in the message or dialing the number will guide everyone directly to the conference.

If you’d like to get access and build an UberConference integration, we’d love to hear from you! You can email us at feedback@firespotter.com with your integration idea and company details.

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/11/uberconference-api-available-kato-im-integration/feed/0Why we use WebRTC for our voice productshttp://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/use-webrtc-uberconference-switch-co/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/use-webrtc-uberconference-switch-co/#respondWed, 22 Oct 2014 19:52:20 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=888We built both UberConference and Switch.co on Google Cloud Platform using WebRTC. Our goal from the beginning was to bring innovation to some of the obvious problems with conference calls and business phone systems, making them relevant and useful again. We wanted to develop our products for the way we work today -- faster, more mobile, and across multiple platforms and devices. WebRTC helped us do that.

Brian Peterson is VP of Product Engineering and co-founder at Switch Communications, specializing in web development, cloud services and databases. Before Switch Communications, Brian was at Google for eight years, where he spent most of his time working on the Google Voice team and leading the transition of GrandCentral’s technology onto Google’s infrastructure.

We built both UberConference and Switch.co on Google Cloud Platform using WebRTC. Our goal from the beginning was to bring innovation to some of the obvious problems with conference calls and business phone systems, making them relevant and useful again. We wanted to develop our products for the way we work today — faster, more mobile, and across multiple platforms and devices. WebRTC helped us do that.

It’s cool because it’s a way to get very high-quality, secure VoIP to your browser (for free), without having to install any extra plug-in.

WebRTC uses the Opus Codec, which offers the best audio experience out there. Not only does it give your Switch.co and UberConference calls HD audio, but it also handles dynamic network conditions by adjusting to the available bandwith wherever you are.

UberConference was one of the earliest WebRTC adopters, launching at Google I/O in 2013 — just one week after Google released it. With WebRTC implemented into UberConference, our users can connect to their calls in real-time without having to leave their browsers and make international calls through the browser at no cost.

For similar reasons, Switch.co uses WebRTC for voice communication through your desktop. It’s available without any extra software across Windows, Mac, Chromebooks, and even Linux, and because of its cross-platform capabilities, WebRTC allowed us to deploy the Switch.co native app instantaneously across all platforms, instead of having to build separately for each one. It allows for a more streamlined experience for developers, but also lets us roll out the app faster for users on any platform.

Because Switch.co is a Chrome web app, WebRTC is already built in and users only need to have Chrome to use it. Just like with UberConference, it gives Switch.co users HD audio and lets them call internationally for free when making and answering calls from the desktop.

WebRTC is game changing, and it’s paving the way for whole new types of web applications like Switch.co and UberConference. We do our best to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to advancing the quality and accessibility of our products, and as the WebRTC standard becomes available in more browsers, we plan to build accordingly.

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/use-webrtc-uberconference-switch-co/feed/0Feature Update: Customize Conference Email Summary Recipientshttp://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/feature-update-customize-conference-email-summary-recipients/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/feature-update-customize-conference-email-summary-recipients/#respondTue, 14 Oct 2014 09:00:49 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=878We do our best to listen to feedback from our customers, and we’ve been hearing quite a few requests to give UberConference organizers the ability to choose who receives the summary emails sent after each conference call. We originally implemented this feature to give meetings more context. The summary emails contain links to any shared... Read more »

We do our best to listen to feedback from our customers, and we’ve been hearing quite a few requests to give UberConference organizers the ability to choose who receives the summary emails sent after each conference call.

We originally implemented this feature to give meetings more context. The summary emails contain links to any shared documents or recordings, correlating with meeting notes for reference. They also include interesting stats, like who was there and who talked the most and the least.

If UberConference Pro and Business organizers would rather not have the email summaries sent to every participant after the conference ends, they now have the ability to manage that in their settings.

To specify who should receive the conference summaries, go to uberconference.com/settings (when logged in), and scroll all the way down to the “Notification Preferences” section. Under “Call Summary,” you will see the option to disable or enable the conference call summary for participants or for yourself. Don’t forget to click on the “Save Changes” button on the bottom of the page.

We’re continuously trying to make Business features more robust for our customers, and disabling call summary emails is just one of the many ways you can customize your conference calls with UberConference Business. Business users also get advanced features like custom hold music, up to 100 callers, dial out to add guests to call, local conference phone numbers, and more.

UberConference Free users still maintain control over the summary emails for themselves.

Follow us on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things UberConference! @uberconference

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/feature-update-customize-conference-email-summary-recipients/feed/0Enplug using UberConference to visualize conference callshttp://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/enplug-uberconference/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/enplug-uberconference/#respondTue, 07 Oct 2014 09:00:52 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=870UberConference and Enplug: using visual displays to connect in a new way. Enplug digital signage is one of the youngest and fastest growing startups in Silicon Beach. They were founded in 2012 and are currently in over 100 cities with around 35 employees. They are in over 400 venues with clients including Audi, Porsche, Marriott, Supperclub,... Read more »

UberConference and Enplug: using visual displays to connect in a new way.

Enplug digital signage is one of the youngest and fastest growing startups in Silicon Beach. They were founded in 2012 and are currently in over 100 cities with around 35 employees. They are in over 400 venues with clients including Audi, Porsche, Marriott, Supperclub, WeWork and Amoeba music.

Enplug’s Plug and Play mini device turns any TV or digital display into an interactive and real-time marketing tool for businesses. After plugging the device into a TV, businesses choose from a wide-array of apps to display including live social media walls, live weather, live news and more.

Their most popular app is the Live Social Wall, which allows businesses to display a real-time feed of any hashtag or username from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare, and Yelp.

Businesses can control their Enplug displays from the ‘Enplug Control’ app, available on any smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

Their company, with employees all over the world traveling to onboard new systems, is constantly on the go. They needed a solution that would help them maintain efficiency and was in tune with their focus on design.

“One of the coolest things we do is turn our Enplug displays around the office — which we have about 30 of — into UberConference displays for sales, marketing, engineering, and operations meetings,” said Ryan Gushue, Director of Marketing at Enplug. “We attach a camera to them so people calling in can feel like they are here, in the meeting. With Enplug displays on every major continent, and only 35 employees, the ability to effectively communicate regardless of distance is essential for our growth.”

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/enplug-uberconference/feed/0The Value of Audio Conference Callshttp://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/software-advice-uberconference-audio-conference-call/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/software-advice-uberconference-audio-conference-call/#respondFri, 03 Oct 2014 09:00:24 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=862Telecom technology review company Software Advice, recently put together a list of key findings regarding the way that employees utilize video and teleconferencing in the modern workplace. They spoke to over 389 workers on how they do remote meetings and what features and services they prefer. Let’s break down the three key findings from the... Read more »

Telecom technology review company Software Advice, recently put together a list of key findings regarding the way that employees utilize video and teleconferencing in the modern workplace. They spoke to over 389 workers on how they do remote meetings and what features and services they prefer.

1) Most employees surveyed used both audio and videoconferencing, with 39 percent relying “mostly” on audio conferencing and 31 percent using both equally.

While videoconferencing is growing in popularity, we at UberConference believe that sharing can be done in a mutlitude of ways. While facial features and body language are an important component of video conferences, having a clear audio connection is the only way they can truly work.

Our very own Hugo Romano, product manager for UberConference, was featured in the article explaining: “If you’re meeting a person for the first time, you need to see body language to understand how she or he communicates.” This is especially true when trying to walk someone through a product demonstration or support inquiry.

3) Employees liked the ease of setup that audio conferencing provides, while they liked the ability to read body language through videoconferencing.

Both features have their strengths and we believe UberConference, with screen sharing and document sharing capabilities can provide a rich end user experience.

]]>http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/software-advice-uberconference-audio-conference-call/feed/0Re/code on UberConferencehttp://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/recode-uberconference/
http://blog.uberconference.com/2014/10/recode-uberconference/#respondThu, 02 Oct 2014 17:32:14 +0000http://blog.uberconference.com/?p=858We want to thank <re/code> for recently reviewing UberConference and making a great video highlighting how our product eliminates frustrations around conference calls. After walking through a play on our design, the team shared how UberConference can help make meetings run more efficiently. “My favorite thing about UberConference is that it lets you see a visual representation of everyone on the call via... Read more »

We want to thank <re/code> for recently reviewing UberConference and making a great video highlighting how our product eliminates frustrations around conference calls. After walking through a play on our design, the team shared how UberConference can help make meetings run more efficiently.

“My favorite thing about UberConference is that it lets you see a visual representation of everyone on the call via its Web page or app. People are represented by tiles with names and images of themselves. This means you won’t have to ask things like, ‘Is Jessica still on the call, or did she hang up earlier?'” -Katherine Boheret